The second suspect accused of raping a 41-year-old South African woman on a visit in Zimbabwe on August 20, was sentenced to an effective 15 years in jail on Wednesday.

Tawanda Guzha (27) of Chivhu area, near Harare, pleaded not guilty to rape charges when he appeared before regional magistrate Mr Owen Tagu. He was, however, convicted by the magistrate and sentenced. Initially he was remanded to 29 November for trial.

The court heard that Guzha and his accomplice, Innocent Gumbo (34), had offered the woman a lift along Beitbridge-Bulawayo Highway in Zimbabwe on 20 August. It was also testified that the victim was traveling with a female relative driving from Bulawayo, where they had visited their in-laws and were on their way back to South Africa. Along the way, their car developed a puncture and she then boarded another car and went to Beitbridge town to have the tyre fixed.

On returning back to the point where the car was left, she got a lift from the accused persons. The accused persons’ vehicle had four people on board, two of them women. After traveling for about 10km, the driver then dropped off the other two female passengers and proceeded with the South African woman and the other male passenger.

The driver then traveled another 5km before branching off the highway and parking the car at a bushy area under the guise of intending to re-fuel it. Soon after parking the car, the driver together with the passenger ordered the complainant to disembark. They then robbed her of her cell phone, R115 and Z$8.5 million. They then took turns to rape her before tying her to a tree.

The woman, however, managed to untie herself and got a lift from a Good Samaritan, who then took her to Beitbridge Police Station where she reported the matter.

The two accused were arrested separately in Masvingo and Garanyemba areas in Zimbabwe, following a public tip-off.

* Gumbo was sentenced to an effective 15 years in jail last month.